Alternatives
by Chris7221
Summary: Various oneshot alternate ME3 endings I wrote. Some are complete jokes, some are more serious. Obviously, ME3 ending spoilers.
1. SPOILER ALERT

If you haven't played ME3 through and don't want to spoil the ending, TURN BACK NOW. Each of these scenarios has varying degrees of spoilers in them. I know it is *technically* against site policy, but for this reason I am posting this blurb on it's own without an immediate chapter.

The ending of Mass Effect 3 blew me away, and not in a good way. It's terrible. It's not that it's bleak, or boring, or too dark. I don't know... it just sucks. It doesn't make any sense at all, is not conclusive, and doesn't tie in with the rest of the story. There are good analyses out there, go read one.

Anyway, I figured even my dumbest ideas are at least better than that piece of crap. Don't get me wrong, 99% of ME3 was amazing. Unfortunately, the last 1% is the really important part.

Some of these are better than others. I wrote them quickly and out of rage, so don't expect the world. These are hackjobs, not lovingly crafted alternate endings, but maybe someone will enjoy them.


	2. Reapercussions of Evil

Fans of Peter Chimaera should recognize this.

**Reapercussions of Evil**

"No! I must kill the reapers" s/he shouted  
>The radio said "No, Shepard. You are the reapers"<br>And then Shepard was a reaper.


	3. Most things in here

Title is a reference to something that was referenced in-game... as much sense as that makes. Thematically it's similar to some other alternate endings out there that I hadn't read when I wrote this.

**Most things in here don't react too well to bullets**

"So now what?" Shepard asked the Catalyst.

"We find a new solution," the holographic boy replied.

"Yeah? But how?"

"The Crucible changed me. Created new... possibilities." The boy moved effortlessly toward the flowing stream of energy before them, and Shepard limped to follow. "But I can make them happen. I know you've thought about destroying us."

"You can wipe out all synthetic life if you want." It seemed like the right choice, the noble choice to Shepard. She looked to the power conduit feeding the Crucible, and imagined what Anderson would do. Fill it full of bullets. Somehow, she knew the resultant overload would alter the energy wave into one that would be extremely harmful to electronics.

The boy reminded her, "Even you are partly synthetic."

"But the Reapers will be destroyed?" Shepard asked weakly.

"Yes, but the peace won't last. Soon, your children will create synthetics, and the chaos will come back."

"Maybe..."

"Or, do you think you can control us?" Shepard followed the boy's gaze to the other side of the device. A terminal, one that would link her into the Reapers. Like the Illusive Man would have done. She could imagine that, too. The man laughing, drunk with power as he merged himself with the Reapers.

"So. The Illusive Man was right after all."

"Yes, but he could never have taken control. Because we controlled him."

"But I can?" Half question, half statement.

"You will die," the Catalyst told her simply. "You will control us, but you will lose everything you have."

"But the Reapers will obey me?"

"Yes." He paused. "There is another solution."

"Yeah?"

"Synthesis." In front of them, the Crucible's energy stream continued to pulsate. "Add your energy to the Crucible's. Everything you are will be absorbed, then sent out. A chain reaction will combine all synthetic and organic life into a new framework."

"I... don't know." Shepard admitted. She was tired, near collapsing, from both fatigue and massive blood loss.

"Why not? Synthetics are already part of you." It was true. She would have dropped dead minutes ago if not for the implants. "Can you imagine your life without them?"

She flexed her arm, and a faint biotic aura shimmered on her extended hand. "There will be peace?"

"The cycle will end," the Catalyst confirmed. "Synthesis is the final evolution of life, but we need each other to make it happen."

"You have a difficult decision. Releasing the energy of the Crucible will end the cycle but it will also destroy the Mass Relays. The paths are open. But you have to choose."

It took Shepard a few seconds to make her decision. "I choose to go down fighting."

She raised her pistol and opened fire.

"Jeff, I am reading massive energy emissions from the Crucible," EDI's feminine, yet synthetic voice informed Joker from a speaker above him.

"What kind of energy emissions are we talking about?" Joker asked as he pulled the Normandy in a tight right turn. A Reaper energy beam passed only a metre away from the hull.

"Unknown. However, the buildup is increasing at an exponential rate. The only possible result is a massive simultaneous release. An explosion."

"Shit," Joker swore. "How long."

"A few minutes, maximum. I am unable to predict the timing with more than ten percent certainty. Recommending an immediate retreat to Admiral Hackett."

"What about Shepard?"

There was a lingering pause, and then, "I am sorry, Jeff."

Admiral Hackett's voice came over the comm. "This is Admiral Hackett. I am ordering an immediate retreat. Repeat, all units pull back and leave the area at best possible speed! We have reason to believe that the system will soon be engulfed in an explosion."

"Jesus, that big?" Joker asked, shocked. He focused on manipulating the Normandy's complex controls. "Let's get the hell out of here!"

"Engaging FTL drive." The Normandy spun and quickly accelerated past the lightspeed barrier, even as more Reapers jumped in to reinforce their brethren.

After expending all of her thermal clips, Shepard tossed her pistol into the expanding energy stream. She collapsed to the floor, forcing herself to a sitting position against the pain. As alarms blared around her, she took a moment to look at her homeworld one last time. Soon it would all be over.

Seconds later, the energy buildup finally reached a critical level. The containment fields were instantly overwhelmed, and the energy pulse vaporized Shepard in the space of a few nanoseconds. Without proper control, the energy wave simply obliterated everything in its path. The Citadel was reduced to its component molecules and the Reaper fleet, along with some unfortunate ships that couldn't get away in time, was literally shredded. The energy wave continued to wash over Earth below, stripping away the atmosphere and vaporizing everything on the surface, in addition to liquefying the Earth's crust.

The energy wave was fairly short-ranged. It continued to turn the sandy surface of Mars to glass, but most of the destructive power was gone by the time it had reached the asteroid belt. A few communications relays and abandoned space stations had their electronics fried, but the wave did not move beyond the edge of the solar system.

It was over.


	4. The Third Element

Inspired by... The Fifth Element, sort of.

**The Third Element**

"God... feels like years since I sat down," Anderson said to Shepard. The bullet wound in his abdomen was pouring blood, his dark skin was oddly pale, and his voice weak. He sat against a low platform, and his broken ribs hammered him with waves of pain.

Shepard's breathing was equally laboured. She held her hand against her own stomach, and it was drenched in blood. "I think you earned a rest."

"Mmmm," Admiral Anderson groaned. He blinked several times, struggling to keep his eyes open.

"Stay with me," Commander Shepard said to him, her own voice weak. "We're almost through this."

"You did good, child. You did good. I'm proud of you."

"Thank you, sir." She looked over at the man, who's head had lolled to the left and sunk into his chest. "Anderson!"

She was so tired, so drained. The blood loss probably had something to do with it, but there was just nothing left in the Commander. The Crucible... it should have worked. The crisis was over, wasn't it? It was peaceful, she could just rest...

"Shepard. Commander." It was a familiar voice... Admiral Hackett. Commander of the allied fleets.

Shepard forced herself to respond, even as waves of pain shot through her body. "I- what do you need me to do?"

"Nothing's happening." The Commander fell to the bloodstained floor, then forced herself to stand, and ended up back on the floor with her body on fire. "The Crucible's not firing. It's got to be something on your end."

Shepard searched her mind for the answers. Like a thin thread, she vaguely remembered there was something important. Another element, another piece of the puzzle. The Citadel was important... but not... not the Catalyst! What was the Catalyst?

She glanced briefly at Anderson's limp form, an act that caused her an untold amount of agony. And the platform he leaned against...

"It has..." Shepard moaned as she turned around and began crawling back toward it. Pain shot through her torn abdomen, burnt skin, broken ribcage, and shattered ankle. She forced herself, baby step by baby step, toward the low platform. "been an honour, sir."

"Commander!" The crawl on top of it was almost unbearable. When she finally managed to drag herself on top with a trail of blood behind her, Shepard collapsed. That was it. She was done.

As the light enveloped her, she tried to think positive thoughts. Her mind drifted to all the good things that had happened to her. The friends she met- Liara, Tali, Garrus, all the rest of the crew. The sacrifices that showed her there was a light at the end of the tunnel- Mordin and the genophage cure, Legion and the Geth. The Geth that had made peace with the quarians. A galaxy united. Even if nobody made it, they had proven that the cycle didn't have to continue...

A brilliant beam shot from the tip of the Crucible, impacting the nearest Reaper straight-on and obliterating it. The beam split into two, ripping apart two more Reapers and splitting again in a chain reaction, again and again. By the time the light had faded away, the Reaper fleet had all been reduced to rubble.


	5. Origin

Crossover with... well, you'll see.

**Origin**

"Crucible is docked," EDI reported. "Detecting an energy surge."

"Is it working?" Joker asked. Responding to his control inputs, the Normandy swerved to avoid a lethal Reaper beam.

"Unknown," EDI replied.

On reflex, Joker swerved again, avoiding what looked like... a massive splash of water? Several other ships had not been as fortunate, and when the water receded, there was nothing in their place. "What the hell is that?"

The 'water' had stabilized in a stable plane across the back of the Citadel, inside the Presidium ring. "It appears to be the event horizon of an artificial wormhole. A starship is emerging."

The starship slowly slipped through the 'water'. It was both long and wide, and of a strange, curvy design. There appeared to be no main gun, and the engines were hilariously undersized, mounted close together on the back of the ship. The ship was hollow in the middle, integrating a circular cavity with a hazy glowing blue mass in it. The front of the ship was curved as well, with a wide, flat face.

"Receiving a message, text only," Admiral Hackett told the fleet. "It's... a religious message."

There was a burst of static, followed by, "-who lead us to salvation, who did fight the evil that would doom us all to mortal sin. Did they defeat the old spirits and cast them out? And now, with the strength of our will, they do call upon us to prevail against the corruption of all unbelievers."

"Do not fire, repeat do not fire on the new ships!" Hackett shouted. Another had emerged from the event horizon, and both were firing on the Reapers with their not inconsiderable might. The starships, larger even than the Reapers, had two weapons. The first was a golden energy beam that could tear a Reaper apart in one hit. The blue pulse weapons didn't take much longer. "We don't know what their intentions are!"

The starships continued to emerge, obliterating the Reapers as they went. The synthetic starships' own weapons had no effect, being absorbed harmlessly by bubble shields that flared up when hit. When all six of the starships had emerged and the Reapers were reduced to pieces, they cut their engines and stopped.

Another audio transmission rang across the fleet, this one directly from the new arrivals. A firm, confident yet soothing male voice said to them, "Fear not the Ori, fear the darkness that would conceal the knowledge of the universe. Believe in the truth of all things, and you too may find the path to enlightenment. Hallowed are the Ori."


	6. Crash to Desktop

Honestly, I would rather have this ending.

**Crash To Desktop**

"No!" the Illusive Man shouted. "You're the one who failed!"

Shakily, Commander Shepard raised the pistol and fired. The bullet went straight through the Cerberus master's heart, killing him instantly. He crumpled to the floor.

Shepard limped over as Anderson fell to the ground. Above them, the battle continued to rage-

Everything went black.

When it came back, the view was completely different. A bright Windows logo sat at the centre of the screen, flanked by a messy collection of icons. Below, on the very right of the cluttered taskbar was a message. It read: "nVidia ForceWare 281.85 has crashed and recovered."

In the middle of the screen was a dialog box that read in conspicuously large letters, "Masseffect3 has stopped working". There were two options- one to close and one to check for a solution. The "close" option flashed once then the dialog disappeared.


	7. RROD and Elevator

Two in one because they are so short. Both were largely written by my friend (who wishes to remain anonymous), not me.

**RROD**

Everything went black. The ring that normally was green and happy was know ominously red. For a

minute there was silence...and then came the realization; **RED RING OF DEATH.** Then there was sound in abundance; cussing, yelling, stomping, and the console being thrown repeatedly against the wall. The mass effect 3 disc, once a symbol of pride and excitement, now a coaster not even worthy of any good beverage.

**Elevator**

Shepard crawled over to the console, half dead and desperate. He nearly made it before he passed out. When he awoke he was hanging half off the edge of a platform that earlier appeared to be a tired to pull himself onto the platform,he merely side as he was crushed between the roof and the moving platform...The End.


	8. Unforeseen Consequences

This one is more serious. For those of you who don't get it, you're missing out on an epic piece of gaming history. This one was co-written with the aforementioned friend.

**Unforeseen Consequences**

"Shit!" Anderson shouted as he sprinted to follow Shepard. They were within spitting distance of the Beam- almost literally. It sat in front of them, tantalizingly out of reach. Between them was only a smattering of Reaper forces.

He watched as the colossal mass of Harbinger crashed to the ground, directly ahead of them. The machine let out a terrifying mechanical roar as it poised itself for the attack. Anderson shouted, "We gotta move!"

"Come on!" Shepard shouted, unslinging her Mattock heavy rifle. Breaking into a run, she began the advance.

"Hammer squads, go, go, go!"

Everybody broke into a sprint in a desperate attempt to reach the beam before being hit by harbinger's laser. All around Shepard Mako's were being blown up and soldiers were falling. Twice lasers impacted within arms reach of Shepard...but she was almost there...

Another Mako gets hit and flips to her right, to her left a gunship falls to the ground. Shepard just keeps running. Suddenly a laser impacted directly in front of her and she blacked out...

"I am...impressed with you... Commander... Shepard." said a faint ethereal voice that seemed to be in Shepards head. It was strange... eerie... inhuman. She was in the same place she had been knocked out in, but time seemed to have stopped around her.

"But I'm afraid you just can't be allowed to reach the beam..." An image appeared in the image of a middle aged man with black hair and wrinkles that seemed to be formed by too much deep contemplation. "W-why?" stuttered Shepard "Why can't I reach the beam?"

"Because...Commander...Shepard..If you are allowed to reach the beam,then you are a threat to the cycle" The imaged changed...the man was still there but now there was more,husks stood all around him now,and behind him stood Harbinger.

"Why?"

"Despite his... misgivings, at least my last... employee, did not ask so many questions," the man replied. Was he complaining. "But since you will soon be out of the... equation, I will... indulge you."

He continued, with the same creepy voice. "Despite what it may seem, this... place is safe. The Reapers... destroy the organic life of every cycle because they believe... conflict... is inevitable. But that is not why the... cycles of extinction... are necessary."

"Then why is it?" Shepard asked, growing angry. "If the only slim reason we've got isn't the real one, what is?"

"Eventually, if allowed to continue... developing, you will discover a new technology. One... infinitely more powerful than the Mass Effect. But also infinitely more... harmful. A threat... one that makes the Reapers seem... harmless... will arrive at your... doorstep."

"What is this technology? We won't develop it if we know it's dangerous!" Shepard shouted at the man... whatever he was.

"But you will. That is a guarantee. In nearly every universe... it will eventually lead to the... downfall... the very destruction of space-time itself... and with it the arrival of a force so powerful... you cannot comprehend it."

"Now you sound like a damn Reaper!" Shepard leaned forward into the man's face, but he didn't flinch at all. "If we bring about our own destruction then it's our own fault! It's our free will, and I'd rather die knowing that we screwed up than be destroyed by some machines because they think something might happen!"

"You do not... comprehend how... destructive these actions would be. This is not a race wiped out... or even a galaxy destroyed. It could mean the... end of the universe as you know it."

"So what? Maybe we'll avoid it, maybe we'll just have to face the consequences. Either way, it's not your place to decide! Let me out of this... whatever it is, and let me stop the Reapers!"

"Unfortunately, that is not possible." The man straightened his tie,and with a note of finality said "The cycle must go on..."

_Status: Neutralized_


	9. Ending Sold Separately

Inspired by DLC Quest.

**Ending Sold Separately**

"Shit!" Anderson shouted as he sprinted to follow Shepard. They were within spitting distance of the Beam- almost literally. It sat in front of them, tantalizingly out of reach. Between them was only a smattering of Reaper forces.

He watched as the colossal mass of Harbinger crashed to the ground, directly ahead of them. The machine let out a terrifying mechanical roar as it poised itself for the attack. Anderson shouted, "We gotta move!"

"Come on!" Shepard shouted, unslinging her Revenant LMG. Breaking into a run, she began the advance, firing wildly at the Marauders and Husks in their way.

"Hammer squads, go, go, go!"

Everybody broke into a sprint in a desperate attempt to reach the beam before being hit by harbinger's beam weapon. All around Shepard Makos were being blown up and soldiers were falling. Twice the deadly stream of molten metal impacted within arms reach of Shepard, almost knocking her off her feet.

Another Mako was hit, flipping wildly and exploding far too close for comfort. The beam continued to move, carving a trench into the ground and almost hitting Shepard. She was thrown off her feet and skidded across the ground before falling unconscious, the world fading to black.

*end credits*

Commander Shepard has become a legend by ending the Reaper threat. Now you can continue to build that legend through further gameplay and downloadable content.


	10. End Song

**End Song**

Shepard crawled slowly to the lift as Anderson bled to death behind her. She was bleeding, too, leaving a slithering trail of blood on the floor. Every motion sent waves of pain through her body. She was getting drowsy, could barely think, couldn't concentrate. She wasn't far behind her old mentor.

Finally, Shepard managed to get herself on the small platform, and it whisked her upwards, toward the Crucible. Hopefully there would be another control panel, or- what the hell was that? Was that music?

The Commander focused on the sound as the lift came to a stop, biting back the pain of the jarring motion. It was a catchy tune, with a rhythmic beat. It sounded old, maybe twentieth or twenty-first century, but it was... familiar. Slowly, she looked up. There was a man standing in front of her, or rather a hologram of a man. It was dressed in very archaic looking clothes, with hair in a ridiculous looking cut that she'd never seen before in her life. The VI, if that's what it was, seemed to ignore her and started singing, doing some kind of dance at the same time.

_Never gonna give you up  
>Never gonna let you down...<em>


End file.
